Do As I Say, Not As I Do

by pessimist

The head of Sinclair Broadcasting - David D. Smith - is a piece of work! He's written a letter to Senator John McCain (A tip of the tinfoil topper to Barricades commentatorLis Riba) in response to McCain's condemnation of Sinclair's mandate to their seven ABC affiliates NOT to show tonight's Nightline, which will feature Ted Koppel reading the names of the over 500 US combat dead in Iraq.

Let me begin by saying that no organization more fully supports our military than Sinclair. In no way was our decision intended to show any
disrespect to the brave members of our military, particularly those who have sacrificed their lives in service of our country. To the contrary, our decision was based on a desire to stop the misuse of their sacrifice to support an anti-war position with which most, if not all, of these soldiers would not have agreed.

How dare he speak for those who died defending his 'right' to decide for all of us what we will or will not see? Who is he to decide that such a presentation is not a memorial but an 'anti-war position'?

The man is a huge hypocrite. But then, most prominent Republicans are.

Moreover, while I don't disagree that Americans need to understand the costs of war and sacrifices of our military volunteers, I firmly believe that responsible journalism requires that a discussion of these costs must necessarily be accompanied by a description of the benefits of military action and the events that precipitated that action.

This windbag chooses to ignore the fact that we've been getting almost nothing BUT descriptions of the 'benefits' of pursuing non-existant WMD stockpiles and we've been bombarded with long-winded excuses as to the specious reasons Bush unprovokedly invaded a sovereign nation for the first time in our history. But then, the truth was never a requirement for any recent Republican statement.

Tail Wags Dog

To those who would accuse Sinclair of censorship, we ask that they consider the daily decisions of network shows like "Nightline" as to what issues to cover and how they are to be presented, decisions that necessarily involve ignoring other issues and points of view that the networks choose not to present to the American public. It is worth noting that "Nightline" and its host, Ted Koppel, have ignored repeated requests from Sinclair to comment on their decision regarding the content of tonight's program.

Let's see - seven affiliates versus the entire ABC network. I guess it should have been obvious that Sinclair Broadcasting really runs things! Why else would it be that only the White House version of 'the facts' can be shown without a disclaimer, in Sinclair's opinion? This is the same sort of 'I'm always correct' attitude we get from our trolls.

So what WILL Sinclair do?

Sinclair's news coverage during the last year has reported on all
aspects of the war in Iraq, including the tragic loss of lives of military
combatants. In fact, we will be replacing "Nightline" this evening with a
balanced report addressing both sides of this controversy.

It should be noted here that Sinclair owns more FAUX affiliates than anything else.

This is the gist of their gripe with ted Koppel:

In simply reading the names of our fallen heroes, this program has adopted a strategy employed by numerous anti-war demonstrators who wish to focus attention solely on the cost of war. In fact, lest there be any doubt about "Nightline's" motivation, both Mr. Koppel and "Nightline's" executive producer have acknowledged that tonight's episode was influenced by the Life Magazine article listing the names of dead soldiers in Vietnam, which article was
widely credited with furthering the opposition to the Vietnam war and with
creating a backlash of public opinion against the members of the U.S.
military who had proudly served in that conflict.

Absolute bullshit! This pompous SOB doesn't want to remember that such memorials were intended to be an accusation against the government who needlessly sent so many to die.

So what evidence does he offer to support this?

In closing, I would like to quote for you the words of Captain Kate
Blaise of the U.S. Military. Captain Blaise served in Iraq as a member of the 101st Airborne Division and suffered the loss of her husband Mike who was killed while also serving in Iraq. In commenting on exactly the type of practice which "Nightline" intends to employ, Captain Blaise had this to say:

"I was watching the news, watching this anti-war demonstration and they were reading off names of soldiers who had fallen in Iraq and they read off my husband's name. That made me very angry because he very strongly believed in what he was doing and they were using his name for a purpose that he would not have approved of."

Suppose WE don't approve of the needless death of Captain Blaise's husband! Should we tolerate such politicisation of a wrongful war to be excused by an end-justifies-the-means qualification and the feelings of a single military widow? What of the feelings of the rest of us?

David D. Smith, president and chief executive officer of Sinclair Broadcast Group, was arrested this week in his hometown of Baltimore and charged with a misdemeanor sex offense. Sinclair owns WPGH, the Fox affiliate in Pittsburgh, and programs most of WPTT.

The Baltimore Sun reported that Smith, 45, was arrested Tuesday night in an undercover sting at a downtown corner frequented by prostitutes.

There's more:

Broadcasting official charged in sex stakeout
Sinclair president, woman arrested in company car
Published on: August 15, 1996
Edition: FINAL
Section: NEWS
Page: 2B
Byline: SUN STAFFPeter Hermann
372
The president of Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns the local Fox television affiliate, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with committing a perverted sex act in a company-owned Mercedes, city police said.
David Deniston Smith, 45, of the 800 block of Hillstead Drive in Timonium, who also is Sinclair's chief executive, was arrested in an undercover sting at Read and St. Paul streets, a downtown corner frequented by prostitutes, Baltimore police said yesterday.

Smith and Mary DiPaulo, 31, were charged with committing unnatural and perverted sex act. Smith was held overnight at the Central Booking and Intake Center and released on personal recognizance at 2 p.m. yesterday. DiPaulo's bail status was not available.

Officials at WBFF-TV (Fox 45) and Sinclair, one of the fastest-growing broadcasting companies in the nation with 28 television and 34 radio stations, would not comment yesterday. The company had $126 million in sales in the first half of this year.

Police said undercover Officer Gary Bowman, on a prostitution detail, was talking to DiPaulo about 9: 15 p.m. in a car at St. Paul and Read streets. She left the undercover car after telling Bowman that "she had just seen her regular date driving in the area," according to court documents. Police said DiPaulo ran across the street to a 1992 Mercedes, registered to Sinclair, and got in on the passenger side. Police followed the car onto the Jones Falls Expressway, where they said they witnessed the two engage in oral sex while Smith drove north.
Police said they followed the car back to Read and St. Paul streets, where they arrested Smith and DiPaulo, who lives in the 700 block of Washington Blvd.

Does this guy not remember Jimmy Swaggart, who was removed from his 'ministry' for just this activity? Has this staunch Repubican supporter misplaced all of the files on Monicagate? Would he still not feel that the Impeachment of Bill Clinton for his similar conduct with Monica was called for?

IF he does, then let's see some sign of contrition - as they demanded of Clinton. If not, then David Deniston Smith proves my point about him.

I wonder if a prostitute should sue him for defamation of character?

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